Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those curious onlookers from outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here for your reference, each fully annotated & linked up for your pleasure.

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You know him best as the designer behind games like Canabalt, Hundreds and his Keita Takahashi collaboration A͈L͈P͈H͈A͈B͈E͈T͈, but next Thursday, December 5th, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door, JUEGOS RANCHEROS will present Breakdancing Superspy — a brand-new physical game being created by Austin’s own Adam Saltsman.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

In the grand tradition of body-bending games previously featured at JUEGOS RANCHEROS & Fantastic Arcade like MEGA-GIRP & MEGA-A͈L͈P͈H͈A͈B͈E͈T͈, Saltsman describes the game as “a race to be the fastest to complete an awkward obstacle course that resembles single-player Twister, drunken hopscotch, and/or a clumsy Entrapment-era Catherine Zeta-Jones.” (see: below)

“Players will live out their wildest spy fantasies and,” he adds, “tip over sometimes”, in this “large-scale physical game powered by a tarp and a pair of projectors.”

For those less limber or sure on their feet (particularly a few beers in) than Saltsman himself — seen above lithely prototyping the game in his backyard — we’ll also be toting along a few more traditional games to fill out your evening, or feel free to just gawk at the tangled bodies making their first foray across Superspy‘s playfield.

Also new this month: our JUEGOS RANCHEROS meetup will be immediately followed by the new, regular North Door appearance of Texas-area chiptune showcase TX Chip! Visit their own Facebook invite for this month’s full lineup of 8-bit wunderkind!

Doors will be open Thursday, December 5th, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public — come drink, play, and meet the people changing the way you think about videogames!

Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those curious onlookers from outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here for your reference, each fully annotated & linked up for your pleasure.

(more…)

Hey folks! If you don’t already have your Thursday evening cleared off, make sure it’s cleared off now and come join us for Austin Chronicle’s GAME ON showcase — a free three-hour party that will highlight some of the best games coming out of Austin’s indie game scene.

The event is open to everyone and will include nearly 20 games from Austin developers, including The Stanley Parable, SoundSelf, Cosmic DJ, Fantastic Arcade game jam winner Starphonix (below), and the special dance-mat-enhanced version of A͈L͈P͈H͈A͈B͈E͈T͈ (pictured at top), from Canabalt creator Adam Saltsman and Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi. (… as well as other Keita-related surprises???)

GAME ON will take place at The Empire Control Room — located at 606 E. 7th St. — on Thursday, November 21st, from 6-9pm. Read more about all the games coming to the event at the Austin Chronicle. Also, there will be free pizza. We hope to see you there!

Never got your chance to be inducted into The Jejune Institute, the amazing real-world game that transformed the city of San Francisco into a magical & mysterious playground? Then it is crucial that you join us at Austin’s North Door next Thursday, November 7th, at 7:00PM, as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents a free screening of The Institute, the newly released documentary that takes “invites viewers down the rabbit hole into a secret underground world teeming just beneath the surface of everyday life.”

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

Any attempt to describe The Jejune Institute will always fall short of just how fantastic the experience was — from being first led into an intimidating Financial District skyscraper, to being given your first mission & re-emerging into the San Francisco streets to find that the clues had been around you all along, to hiking through the park with a transistor radio to pick up pirate radio broadcasts that you never knew existed & realizing that the plot was thickening by the minute.

But watching The Institute does an amazing job of carrying you along for the ride you might have missed, and introducing you to the game’s creators, participants & key figures, only to discover that behind the curtain — there are only more curtains.

Following its recent screening at the Austin Film Society, JUEGOS RANCHEROS is very excited to be able to present The Institute free of charge and open to the public, so even more of you can fall down its peculiar & enlightening rabbit-hole, in our first ever movie-night.

The presentation will begin promptly at 7:30PM, so please arrive early & in plenty of time to grab a good seat & not interrupt the film!

And don’t believe for a second that this is our least interactive meetup to date — head to The Institute’s website and download & print your own personal induction card to accompany your viewing of the film, which will help you unlock even more mysteries…

[PS: not in Austin or can’t make it to the screening? You can play along at home by downloading the film on iTunes!]

Doors will be open Thursday, November 7th, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public — come drink, play, and meet the people changing the way you think about videogames!

What better way to play the most beautiful upcoming game about space than in a planetarium? There is no better way, as you’ll find out Thursday, August 1st, at 7:00PM, as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents Christoffer Hedborg’s Eleven, inside an actual inflatable planetarium at Austin’s North Door, with soundtrack artist Datahowler performing live.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

Eleven creator Hedborg has made a strong name for himself as an amazing low-poly/high-beauty artist since his IGF 2011 Student Showcase debut Toys, as well as a founding member of the #weirdkids art collective, and a developer on commercial works like Pid & the upcoming Shelter for Swedish studio Might & Delight.

But it’s Eleven that remains his most exciting upcoming work, an exploration game that presents the sort of outer-space we all secretly dream it could be: an infinite field of gorgeous, abstract, unknowable geometry that’s all ours to explore.

To help us present the game in the best way, we’re partnering with Austin’s upcoming Science Museum & Planetarium to set up their inflatable planetarium inside the venue itself — so players can lie down, stretch out, and let the game unfold all around them — as well as a short presentation by Science Museum & Planetarium executive director Torvald Hessel to talk about bringing the mystery & magic of space to our city.

Even better, we’ll have Dallas electro wizard Datahowler — the musician behind Eleven‘s laid back & chilled out soundtrack — live at the North Door as a super special guest star, to perform selections from the game and more.

That and much more will be kicking off Thursday, August 1st, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public — come drink, play, and meet the people changing the way you think about videogames!